


Hello, Sweetheart

by Dreamin



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Gen, adoptive dad Stephen, dad stephen, foster dad Stephen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 13:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19377925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/pseuds/Dreamin
Summary: Stephen Strange meets a very special person in the Soul Realm.





	Hello, Sweetheart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BeautifullyObsessed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifullyObsessed/gifts).



The Soul Realm was not how Stephen Strange expected it to be. Instead of a vast, formless void, it was a space about the size of a hotel ballroom, with the walls, ceiling, and floor made of orange-colored glass. And instead of half the souls in the universe, he was sharing the room with only about a hundred people. That number included, from what he could tell, all of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy that had been taken, plus dozens of civilians.

The civilians were, understandably, very upset but the Avengers did an admirable job of calming them down, with young Peter Parker helping the teenagers and children.

Above the din of so many people talking at once, Stephen could hear a voice he realized was in his head, that of a small child.

_Help me! Please? Somebody, help me… I’m scared! I’m alone!_

Wading his way through the crowd, he found a wailing baby wrapped in a blanket and laying on the floor. Quickly scooping the child into his arms, he spoke in a soothing tone while he looked the baby over as she calmed down. “It’s okay,” he murmured, “I’ve got you.” _Small, has to be a newborn. Six pounds. No hair yet. Girl, if the rosebud print on the blanket is anything to go by._ He loosened the blanket enough to find the hospital bracelet on her wrist, which revealed her name to be Evelyn Smith.

“Evelyn, huh?” he asked, smiling a bit. “I’ll call you Evie, if that’s alright.”

The baby stared at him, her big eyes huge, then he heard her voice in his head again.

 _Who are you? Where’s my mommy?_ Her face crumpled as she started to fuss. _I want my mommy…_

Stephen held her to his shoulder as he lightly rubbed her back in an effort to calm her. “Your mother isn’t here, sweetheart. I’m Stephen … I’ll take care of you.”

She buried her tiny face in his shoulder. _Where’s here? Where’s my mommy?_

“We’re in another dimension. You’re too young to understand what that means yet. Your mommy is back at the hospital.”

_I want my mommy…_

“I know you do, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I’ll get you back to her, I promise.”

_What’s a promise? And what’s a sweetheart?_

“Making friends, Doctor Strange?” Peter Parker asked, grinning, as he came over.

Stephen chuckled. “Just calming down a baby who’s here by herself.”

“Aww, poor kid. She’s quiet now, I’d say you’re doing a good job.”

“Thanks.” He hesitated before lowering his voice. “This child is special – she’s telepathic.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “Really? That’s so cool! Does that mean her parents are superheroes?”

“Possibly, though out of necessity, I keep tabs on Earth’s superheroes and I haven’t heard of any of them having a baby recently. And it would have to be very recent, she’s only a couple of days old.”

“Huh. Well, if we get back-”

“ **When** we get back,” Stephen corrected gently.

Peter nodded. “When we get back, I’ll help you find her folks. What’s her name?”

“Thanks. Evelyn Smith, I’m calling her Evie.”

The young man grinned. “I like that.”

_Who’s this?_

Stephen turned her to face Peter, who smiled at her happily. “Hi, Evie, I’m Pete.” He held out a finger to her and she gripped it tightly. “Ooo, strong grip! You’ll be ready to fight bad guys in no time.”

_I like him._

“So do I,” Stephen said, chuckling. At Peter’s questioning look, he explained, “Evie likes you.”

“Well, I like her,” Peter said, delighted.

* * *

Time passed in the Soul Realm but no one could tell how much. All they knew was that none of them had any bodily needs and none of them were aging, including Evelyn. She soon became the center of Stephen’s existence and the favorite person of all of the Avengers, who often took turns holding her, but she would only tolerate it for so long before wanting to go back to Stephen.

He would spend their time together telling Evelyn every story he knew, watching her eyes widen as she listened, enraptured. His eidetic memory came in handy as he recited fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and things of a more grown-up nature, like the Sherlock Holmes stories.

 _Again,_ she’d project into his brain whenever he finished. _Again!_

Stephen would always chuckle and say she’d had enough but he always gave in. Sometimes, he’d sing to her, though he was always a little embarrassed by the sound of his singing voice. Evelyn never complained, though. She loved to listen to him no matter what.

* * *

Shuri was playing peek-a-boo with Evelyn when Peter came over to Stephen. “Is this one of the 14,000,605 possible futures you saw?”

“I didn’t see anything in the Soul Realm,” Stephen admitted, his eyes on the baby. “Everything I saw took place on Earth.”

“Okay, did you see Evie in any of those?”

“No, and I don’t know what that means.”

Peter clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s just call this possible future number 14,000,606.”

Stephen chuckled. “I’m sure you’re right.” Still, deep down, he had a feeling that his and Evelyn’s fates weren’t going to be intertwined once they were out of the Soul Realm.

* * *

As it turned out, leaving the Soul Realm was just as abrupt as entering it. One moment he was singing “Goodnight, Sweetheart” to Evelyn, the next, he was at the Sanctum Sanctorum and Wong was telling him to prepare for the final battle against Thanos.

Once the dust had settled and the goodbyes had been said, Stephen sought out the girl he had come to love as a daughter. In a twist of fate, she had been born at the same hospital he had worked at, so he went there first. Privacy laws being what they were, he couldn’t find her by normal means, so he used the Time Stone to go back to when she reappeared.

It broke Stephen’s heart to learn that Evelyn’s mother had died of a broken heart a year after the snap, her father having died in a car accident before she was born. When he found out the baby had been put into foster care, his first instinct was to simply take her, but he knew he had to go about things the right way, for her sake.

It took time, money, patience, and a ringing endorsement from Pepper Stark but finally, on the day Stephen estimated to be Evelyn’s six-month birthday, he was able to bring his little girl home to the Sanctum Sanctorum.

 _Where are we, Daddy?_ she asked as she looked up at the brownstone mansion, her eyes wide.

“We’re home, sweetheart,” Stephen murmured, feeling like his heart would burst.


End file.
